After so many years, the game play of Frogger has returned in a big way on mobile devices. With the popularity of Crossy Road, and as an homage to Frogger, Tech Tree Games has created a wonderful mesh of the two, with their game Bring Me Home. The game is fun, wildly colorful and wonderful art.
When I first came across Bring Me Home, I was intrigued. The game looked amazing. I am a big fan of Crossy Road for a number of reasons. It is fun to play, challenging, and greatly varied, when it comes to characters that you can unlock. Even more amazing, was the Free-to-Play model that accompanied the game. It did not punish you for being free to play. After looking at a few images of Bring Me Home, I knew Tech Tree Games had come up with something similar. It looked great, but would it have the charm of Crossy Road? There have been many new games that have tried to obtain the same success as Crossy Road. Unfortunately, those haven’t been as interesting to me. Bring Me Home is a different story.
“In a world set in the retro future, hovercrafts fly and the roads go on forever. A sentient hovercraft set its sight towards home to start an epic journey that may just take forever.” – Tech Tree Games
Depending on how old you are, the art style of Bring Me Home may remind you of a classic cartoon. From 1962 to 1963, and then later in 1985 to 1987, Hanna-Barbera created an animated series called The Jetsons. I remember watching it fondly in my youth. It was all about a family in space, and their hilarious adventures. They lived in Orbit City and space ships were often seen flying everywhere. Even listening to some of the sound effects in the game, remind me of The Jetsons. Make no mistake about it, Bring Me Home is full of charm.
Since Bring Me Home is an arcade runner, the goal is to go as far as you can, without getting smashed by oncoming traffic. In this case, that would be other hovercrafts and jet trains. You also have to navigate moving platforms, and avoid running into trees that block you in on both sides. Along the way, you can pick up chips. Chips serve as the in-game currency. Chips allow you to unlock other hovercraft. Selecting different hovercraft, changes the game screen color, layout and music. Gaining access to coins is not difficult either, so this free-to-play game does not in any way feel like a cash grab. The game can be challenging, but not in a brutal way. It is a great way to pass time.
The controls are standard for games in this genre. You simply swipe in the direction that you want to move. You don’t have an endless amount of time to make your decisions either. Each road folds back on itself and disappears. In this way, you have to plan your moves pretty quickly, and keep moving forward. If you don’t move in enough time, your hovercraft falls off the edge into deep space.
Currently, there are 24 hovercraft that can be unlocked. The style of hovercraft may vary from an adorable washing machine, to Bully Herb, and even a #Selfie hovercraft. Each ship displays its unique character as you pilot it across the streets. You can either spend real cash to unlock them, or you can try your hand at the slot machine. It takes 50 chips to be able to pull the lever on the slot machine. As I mentioned before, you rack up chips pretty easily, and 50 chips is not a bad price for taking a chance, and winning a new ship. However, you may find that you get the same ship every now and then. It is the luck of the draw right?
Another thing that is uncommon as far as in-game currency goes, Bring Me Home has a print machine with a timer. It allows you to set a timer, and by doing so, based on the length of time you set, you acquire a certain amount of chips. They are being printed for you, while you are playing the game, or are away from your phone. If you set the timer for 8 hours, you get 80 chips. I think that is pretty awesome. Tech Tree Games has given you multiple ways to earn chips. If you feel like you can’t play enough, or don’t want to wait on the printer, you can spend real cash to get new ships. They range in price from $.99 to $3.99 each.
Bring Me Home is integrated with Google Game Play Services with leaderboards, and 29 achievements to unlock. You can also choose to use Facebook integration, if you are social in that way. Though Bring Me Home is free-to-play, you do have the option of unlocking the game to remove the ads. This will cost you $2.00
Tech Tree Games has created an enjoyable game in Bring Me Home. They have successfully paid respect to Frogger and Crossy Road, by creating a game that has the best elements of both. It is definitely worth a download to play.
